OBJECTIVE
The objective of the hare ( the person setting and responsible for the run ) is to provide all the runners in attendance with approximately 60 - 75 minutes of interesting running over varied terrain, with the entire pack within 20 minutes of each other. No one should become lost if they follow the trail. If the weather is exceptionally hot or the light is not very good, towards the 'winter' months, then hares should consider making the run on the shorter side.
You are providing
an afternoon / evening of entertainment for up to 100 people so enough
preparation, thought, and effort has to go into the occasion to make
it a success.
SITE SELECTION
Select a site which
has easy access, good parking space for the number of cars expected and
the Beer Wagon and is well away ( 1/2 km at least ) from the nearest human
habitation. Try to keep driving time from the town centre to the run site
no more than 1 1/4 hours. Make sure that you get the owner's / estate Manager's
permission to use his property for the car parking and the run. Avoid parking
along main roads. Do not set the run where the farmer may have young crops
which will be damaged when a herd of Hashers trample across his land.
SITE NOTIFICATION
Notify the On-Sec
as soon as possible of your proposed runsite so that the location can be
published in the newsletter. This will hopefully ensure that everyone is
aware of the location and prevent hares from other chapters using the same
area in successive weeks. Endeavour to find out from the Interhash Sec
if any other hash chapters will be using the same area about the same time.
If so, co-ordinate with the chapter involved and ensure that your trails
are quite distinctive from paper in the area.
Also, if you are
using a new run site, check your proposed location with more senior / experienced
members to obtain their opinion to establish that a good run can be set
in the area.
DIRECTIONS
Directions to the
runsite should be given to the On-Sec no less than 5 weeks before the run.
Directions should be clear with no possibility of being misunderstood.
Km readings and prominent features like bridges, signboards will be helpful.
Give alternative routes if they exist. Do not say just follow hash signs
if major intersections are involved as signs can fall down or be blown
away. Directions should be with km readings right up to the runsite but
if you intend asking members to follow HHH signs,say, from the entrance
to an estate etc., please give an approximate distance to the car park.
This will ensure that members can give themselves enough time to get to
the car park especially if it is a long way.
SIGNS
Signs should be durable,clear
and distinctive, hurriedly made paper or cardboard can get blown away or
destroyed in the rain. You will have had a few weeks to prepare signs,
or if you don't want to make any, ask to borrow from a previous hash run.
Signs should assist your directions so that members do not have any confusion
over the route to the runsite. Remember there may be new members or guests
who are not as familiar with the area as you so they need guidance and
confidence that they are going the correct way to the runsite. If you have
a long stretch of road without any distinctive features mentioned in the
directions, put a repeater sign along the way to give confidence to the
drivers.
Remember after the
run to take down all the signs. You don't want to follow old signs to a
previous run site.
CO-HARE SELECTION
Always use a co-hare.
Never venture to reccee or set a run on your own for safety reasons and
to ensure that the co-hare can set the run if you are unable to on the
appointed date. It is vey easy to twist an ankle or fall and if you have
no assistance your problems could become serious.
If you are new,
select an experienced hasher as a co-hare. However, you as the Hare are
responsible for all aspects of the run, including the payment of any fines.
RECCE
Recce the intended
area throughly with the co-hare bearing in mind the comments below. A good
run in a new area to the hare would normally expect 4 - 5 recces. From
the preliminary reccee to the final pilot trail you should try to pick
out convenient check points, cross roads, obvious tracks for back trails
etc. The recce should also look for loops so that the slow runners can
cut straight across to catch up the front runners. You should also look
for prominent markers, such as cross roads, bridges so that if you are
disorientated ' lost' you can find your way back to the trails.
DISTANCE
The normal length
of the run should be 8 to 10 km. the length should be long enough to give
the pack enough distance to 'work out' and perspire and play around with
the checks. A rough guide is that walking the trail non-stop should take
you about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. If the run is in a fairly flat area then you
should take longer, if hilly a little bit shorter. If your run is open
easy checks 3 hours walking will result in a 1 hour run. If the terrain
dictates a lot of walking, hills, narrow terraces, overgrown tracks, then
the pack can only go at the same pace as you through that stretch, so make
allowances for the ease or difficulty of the terrain.
TERRAIN USE
An ideal run should
have stretches of running of about 1 km each between checks and intersperced
with the usual hill climb, slog through shiggy or jungle etc. Hills should
be used sparingly, no more than 2 major hills ( a climb of 100 metres )or
4 minor hills ( a climb of not more than 50 metres ). The more running,
the better as long as checks are employed to keep the pack together. The
final run in should be at least 1 1/2 km of relatively flat country, clear
underfoot (remember if you have underestimated the length the runners may
be coming back in the dark ) but if possible avoid sealed roads and definately
busy roads. If you run near some Kampong ( Village ) watch out for the
paper being picked up or re-laid or some Pasar Malam ( Night Market ) which
blocks the road. Vary the direction of the trail so that it is not obvious
which general direction your trail is taking and to prevent SCB's ( Short
Cutting Bastards ) from hitting your home trail.
CHECKS
The essential ingredient
of all hash runs. The purpose of the check is to allow the rear of the
pack to catch up with the FROP's ( Front Runner On Paper ). A normal run
would have 6 - 9 checks. Checks are marked by one dozen (12 ) or so pieces
of paper in a small circle.Vary the direction of the new trail from the
check. Do not consistently start the new trails forward of the check. A
back check is effective to allow the rear of the pack to catch up. The
new trail should start between 75 metres to 150 metres from the check.
This will depend on the type of terrain, in open country the larger distance
can be used whereas in jungle or overgrown difficult terrain the shorter
distance is more appropriate.
Hounds, please note,
if after checking after 150 metres from the check you do not find any paper
double back and look for paper in another direction. If you continue too
far from the check you have the chance of losing the pack when paper is
found or you may come across paper from another part of the run and screw
up the whole run by shortcutting across the whole trail.
FALSE TRAILS AND LOOP CHECKS
False trails are
not more than 150 metres long and they terminate without a check. Afalse
trail means, ' go back to the check and look in another direction '. The
real trail is to be found about 75 - 150 metres from the check as above.
A loop check is designed to get the FROP's to loop for about 400 - 500
metres ( usually around a hill or obstacle ) and come back to the check
within 20 - 30 metres of the trail they were on and where the rear runners
can see the FROP's.
PAPER
Paper is to be 100
mm by 100 mm ( 4" x 4" ) or slightly larger, glossy white paper of good
quality if there is no other paper in the area. If there are other old
paper trails in the area you may have to use paper of different shape (
triangles etc.) or paper of other bright colours. Poor quality paper curls
up with moisture and can become invisible. Paper should be laid every 3
or 4 paces in open terrain and every pace in jungle, covered, or overgrown
terrain. Also mark logs, holes,fences, or barbed wire etc. with plenty
of paper, especially towards the end of the run as it will be getting later
and night falling. More paper should be laid at the end of the run than
at the start but also be concious of the environment. The paper trail should
start from the Hare's car at the nominated parking area. It has been customary
to display paper to be used on the trail on the windscreen of the Hare's
car.
LAYING THE TRAIL
Start laying
the trail at least 2 to 3 hours before the run. This should give you enough
time to lay the checks carefully, which is important. Wait at the last
check until at least 15 minutes after the run has started before laying
the final IN trail from the last check back to the car park. Try and avoid
running through kampongs or human habitation to avoid kampong kids relaying
or removing the paper etc. Keep your IN and OUT trails wall saparated to
avoid over eager achievers stumbling on your in trail.
HARES OUT OF START AREA
It is strictly forbidden
for the Hare or co-hare to be at the starting area prior to the beginning
of the run. Also the Hares and co-hare should make sure that they are not
caught by the pack during the run. Either of the above occurrences will
result in a fine.
FINISH OF THE RUN
The Hare and co-hare
must remain at the finish until all runners have returned. If any runners
have not returned within 3 1/2 hours of the start of the run, then the
Hare and co-hare with the help of available members must organise search
parties.
SEARCH PARTIES
The organisation
of a search party should be coordinated by the hare as he knows the way
round the trail. The whole basis of being able to find a lost hasher is
that they are on paper. If they are off paper there is no way you may know
where they are so plan the search on the route you have followed. You may
set up separate search teams, one to go in forward, one in reverse, and
maybe one which can access the middle of the trail if the terrain permits
it.
It is good policy
to establish where the person was last seen and you can concentrate the
search on that area.
Before the search
party(s) goes in establish communication so that all parties can be alerted
when the person(s) is found and call off the search.
The usual way of
determining that someone is lost is by car keys. It is assumed that everyone
comes by car, as the driver or passenger. So assuming that the driver is
responsible for his passengers, if all the car keys are taken from the
key box and no driver has made any noise that any of his passengers are
missing then everyone has returned and there are no lost souls.
HASH CALLS
ON ON - this call is used by everyone when running on paperso that the tailenders and latecomers know where the members are and the direction that they are taking. It should be used vociferously when finding paper from a check to show that you have found the new trail. All within earshot should call ON CALLED and follow the direction of the caller and change to ON ON as soon as paper on the new trail is sighted
CHECKING - this call is used when you come across a check on the trail. The check is designated by a circle or scattering of paper to mark the end of the trail. This call is used whilst searching for the new trail after a check.
ARE YOU ? - this call is used when you are in doubt of the direction of the paper trail or during checking for the new trail after the check. The call of ARE YOU ON should NOT be used as the ON part may be heard by distant hounds and mistaken for an ON ON call during checking, thereby creating confusion among the hounds searching for the new trail. Hounds who are checking should respond to the ARE YOU call by responding CHECKING if they are still looking for the trail or ON ON if they have found the paper.
LET'S HEAR YOU - this call may be used if you are off paper and wish to rejoin the pack and do not know the direction that the pack is running.
All hounds MUST
call to ensure that the pack keeps together and runs as a group
and not as individuals. Front runners especially, should call constantly
to show the direction of the trail so that the slower ones know where they
are running. It is even more essential when it gets dark as paper would
be difficult to see and the slow ones might not be able to keep on the
trail and might get lost.
ON ON AND ON ON ON
An integral part of the run is the ON ON. ON ON's are normally arranged by the hare at some convenient restaurant close to the run site and on the way back to town. The hare can of course vary this by arranging for the ON ON at site or organise something special. The hare and co-hare act as hosts for the day and must attend the ON ON to complete their responsibility. The objective of having an ON ON is to get members to know each other better and socialise. After the ON ON, if the atmosphere is convivial and members want to continue bonding the hares can organise an ON ON ON at their convenience at either a pub or their home or wherever.